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Fires in Multiple Counties Contribute to Toxic Air Pollution Across Northern California 
Late in the evening on October 8, the Diablo Winds blew into Santa Rosa, resulting in five fires. The rapidly spreading fires caused dozens of deaths and burned thousands of homes and other structures to the ground. Beyond those directly effected, the Santa Rosa firestorm, and other fires in the North Bay have polluted the air across the entire region. The elderly and children are at greatest health risk from the smoke of the wildfires in Sonoma, Napa, Yuba and Mendocino Counties. On Octob...
Posted: Wed, Oct 18, 2017 4:51am PDT
Indybay Co-Founder Kaye "Nana" Griffin Passes On 
Kaye "Nana" Griffin, an Indybay co-founder, passed on in early August. Nana was involved in the Bay Area activism scene for decades, including queer liberation, housing and many other local struggles. Nana also carried one of the first Indybay press passes. Her memorial service is on Saturday, October 21, 2:00 PM, at the Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission St. in San Francisco. Keith McHenry recalls, "Kaye spent many hours volunteering with San Francisco Food Not Bombs and reported on th...
Posted: Fri, Oct 6, 2017 5:23pm PDT
Community Victory Against Right-Wing Troll Milo Yiannopoulos's "Free Speech" Week 
Declaring that blatant fascists and neo-nazis will never find a home in the Bay Area, hundreds of anti-racist activists rallied and marched through the streets of Berkeley on September 23. The Anti Police-Terror Project proactively called for people to gather on that day as a show of strength and unity against the white supremacists across the nation attempting to capitalize on the racist Trump presidency. Separately, Berkeley Patriots, the UC Berkeley student group behind "Free Speech Week,...
Posted: Tue, Oct 3, 2017 9:53pm PDT
Makwa Initiate Direct Action Campaign to Fight Against Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline 
The State of Wisconsin has violated the treaty rights of the Anishinaabe by allowing the Enbridge corporation to destroy wetlands, animal habitat, and their sacred rice lakes for a pipeline that the Minnesota Department of Commerce has deemed unnecessary and hazardous. In Cloquet, Minnesota, a growing front line camp of water protectors has become a base for launching nonviolent direct actions intended to shutdown construction on Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline. Every hour protesters stop work cos...
Posted: Sat, Sep 30, 2017 10:31pm PDT
French Police Threaten to Block Indymedia Nantes and Indymedia Grenoble 
On September 21, the French Ministry of Interior ordered two Indymedia websites — Indymedia Nantes and Indymedia Grenoble — to take down a communiqué claiming responsibility for a fire at a Grenoble police depot the previous night. According to the government, the hosted text constitutes a "provocation to terrorism". Both Indymedia collectives decided to take down the communiqué to avoid being put on a secret blocking list sent by the government to major ISPs in France. Indymedia ...
Posted: Wed, Sep 27, 2017 4:08pm PDT
National Lawyers Guild and Anti Police-Terror Project Condemn BPD Pepper Spray 
The NLG-SF writes: Rather than using these critical times as an opportunity to have a larger conversation with Berkeley’s people of color, LGBTQIA, Jews, Muslims and other communities who are being targeted by white nationalists/neo-Nazis/white supremacists — the City has instead utilized this as an opportunity to target peaceful protests and repress resistance. The APTP further explains who will face the brunt of this new police weapon: According to the resolution, police are not allowed ...
Posted: Sat, Sep 23, 2017 10:01pm PDT
Demonstrators in San Francisco Say Net Neutrality Is a Racial Justice Issue 
Despite the fact that he froze services to low-income internet users soon after taking office, Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai came to San Francisco to talk to tech executives about bridging the digital divide for underserved communities. Pai was named by President Trump as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in January. When he visited San Francisco on September 12, protesters demonstrated at the site of the meeting in the city's financial district, saying net ...
Posted: Wed, Sep 20, 2017 11:42pm PDT
Nationwide Protests Against Trump DACA Action, UC Sues DHS, Colleges Vow Support 
Trump’s decision to quickly phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an executive order protecting young adults who were brought to the U.S. by undocumented immigrant parents as children, propelled thousands of protesters to the streets of San Francisco, San José, Santa Cruz and elsewhere in the Bay Area. The University of California sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in federal court to stop the Trump administration from rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood...
Posted: Sat, Sep 9, 2017 5:04pm PDT
Pajaro Valley Pride Honors and Celebrates LGBTQIA+ Community 
A bright and warm sun, upbeat jams, and an electric atmosphere set the tone for the 2nd Annual Pajaro Valley Pride on August 20. The day brought out a large crowd of about a hundred to the Plaza in Watsonville to stand in solidarity with and celebrate LGBTQ+ folks. The lively event featured a blessing ceremony and parade, as well as performances from drag queens, burlesque dancers, and musicians. Pajaro Valley Pride Vice President Emilio Barajas asserts, "Pride culture is an important part of...
Posted: Fri, Sep 8, 2017 11:16pm PDT
Nazis Doxxing, Stalking, and Threatening Movement Allies in the National Lawyers Guild 
The National Lawyers Guild has supported free speech and assembly for all progressive and radical movements for 80 years. Recently, NLG volunteer attorneys, legal workers and clients received death threats and had their personal information publicized in retaliation for defending antifa activists. One attorney was stalked in a courthouse by a man with a swastika tattoo and a shaved head, wearing quasi-military-type attire. He then left, and shortly thereafter she received threatening messa...
Posted: Fri, Sep 8, 2017 1:09am PDT
MHCAN Faces a Crisis with Police and City Agencies Breathing Down Its Neck 
Mental Health Clients Action Network (MHCAN) is the only peer-owned, peer-staffed and peer-operated provider of mental and behavioral health services and support in Santa Cruz County. The mission of MHCAN is to provide mutual support and networking, give clients a voice in all matters which affect them, create programs controlled by peers, advocate for the right of clients to choose their own life paths, educate the public from client perspectives, work to eradicate treatment disparities and ...
Posted: Wed, Sep 6, 2017 7:58pm PDT
An Open Letter to Oakland's Elected Officials from Oakland Privacy Working Group 
It remains unclear whether the Oakland Police Department provided material assistance on August 16 in the detention and potential deportation of an undocumented Oakland resident who may or may not have been named in a warrant and may not have committed any criminal wrongdoing. In an open letter to Oakland's elected officials, Oakland Privacy writes: It is an issue of grave concern that information provided to the residents of Oakland about HSI activity in the City via mass media was not accur...
Posted: Mon, Sep 4, 2017 10:20pm PDT
Anarchist Bookfair: Solidarity, Direct Action, Healing, Autonomy, Sabotage, Mutual Aid 
The Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair is an annual event that brings together people interested in radical work to connect, learn, and discuss through books and information tables, workshops, panel discussions, skillshares, films, and more. The free event will take place on Saturday, September 16 in Oakland. Workshops include Surveillance Self Defense, Rad Families, Palestine to Chowchilla, Women’s DIY Health, and Knowing the Enemy. Organizers state, "We seek to create an inclusive space to introdu...
Posted: Mon, Sep 4, 2017 7:56pm PDT
Repression of Independent Media Won't Silence Us: Not in Germany, Not Anywhere Else 
Linksunten.indymedia.org, the main independent media website in Germany, was banned by the German government's Ministry of Interior on August 25. Maintaining the website and using its logo are now considered criminal offenses in the country. Linksunten volunteers are also being prosecuted as a "club," which means that administrators are considered responsible for everything that has been published. Administrators are also being accused of being members of a terrorist association. This represe...
Posted: Mon, Sep 4, 2017 1:17am PDT
Corporate Media Attacks Antifa Weeks After Ridiculing Trump for Blaming "Both Sides" 
Tens of thousands of people hit the streets of San Francisco and Berkeley against a series of far-right rallies. Antifascist groups, labor, faith-based organizations, and a multitude of sectors mobilized to confront the far-right, showing that the autonomous power and energy that was unleashed after Charlottesville is still very much alive and is growing among the broader population. But, in the face of growing mass popular opposition not controlled or contained by the Democratic Party, throu...
Posted: Sun, Sep 3, 2017 10:22pm PDT
Ripple Effect of Outing David Duke Campaign Contributors Spreads Beyond California 
Lynda Carson wrote a piece shining light on David Duke's political donors in Northern California, publishing a second report on supporters in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, and beyond. One of those named was Roger F. Grigsby, owner and founding chef of O'mei restaurant in Santa Cruz. Within a week of the Indybay article, the restaurant shut its doors. Grigsby has responded by claiming he is a victim of a "war on whites." In Minneapolis, Clubhouse Jäger owner Julius De Roma was also call...
Posted: Wed, Aug 30, 2017 3:46pm PDT
Trump's Pardon of Arpaio: "A Dark Day In Our Nation" 
After thousands rallied in Phoenix, AZ to support immigrants and loudly denounce Trump’s attempts to pardon White supremacy, President Trump did it anyway. On August 25, he pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted for criminal contempt for disobeying a federal court judge’s order to stop the unconstitutional practice of detaining individuals based solely on suspicion about their immigration status. The President of the National Bar Association responded by writing, "Donal...
Posted: Tue, Aug 29, 2017 6:48pm PDT
German Government Shuts Down Linksunten Indymedia: What It Means and What to Do 
On August 25, the German government raided and shut down Linksunten Indymedia, an integral part of the global Independent Media Center network, and the most widely used German-language platform for radical politics and organizing. In Freiburg, riot police seized computers and harassed those they accuse of maintaining the site, justifying their actions on the grounds that the alleged administrators constitute an illegal organization intent on destroying the German Constitution. This represents...
Posted: Sat, Aug 26, 2017 8:26pm PDT
ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Unit Raids Oakland Home, Arrests One 
On the morning of August 16, a convoy of unmarked federal vehicles rolled up in West Oakland and a dozen or more agents jumped out, demanding entry into a Latina home. The agents only identified themselves as a "special unit" and said that they were investigating a family-owned cleaning business. After handcuffing and detaining the family for over four hours, the agents quickly left, but two residents were removed, one over immigration-related issues. Oakland police issued a press statement s...
Posted: Fri, Aug 25, 2017 7:55pm PDT
White-Supremacists' and Other Fascists' Return to the Bay Area Fizzles in SF and Berkeley 
White-supremacist and other fascist groups have repeatedly targeted the Bay Area in recent months, most recently announcing a weekend of provocations for August 26 in San Francisco and August 27 in Berkeley. As in Boston regarding a planned fascist rally on August 20, anti-racist organizers in the Bay Area responded with a call for massive counter-demonstrations in the streets. The planned weekend of anti-fascist resistance included Charlottesville benefit events in SF and Oakland. In the ...
Posted: Fri, Aug 25, 2017 1:12am PDT